


Not by Chance Alone

by karrenia_rune



Category: Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Genre: Community: 50scenes, Gen, Promptfic, The Correspondence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-10
Updated: 2012-04-10
Packaged: 2017-11-03 09:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/379741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A letter written by the Duchess to the Queen of Hearts, with some pointed advice on how things 'should' be done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not by Chance Alone

Fandom: Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass  
Author: karrenia_rune  
Title: Not by Chance Alone  
Words:683  
Characters; the Queen of Hearts  
Summary: The Queen of Hearts contemplates her response to a well-meaning letter full of advice  
penned by her one-time close friend, the Duchess and reflects on their relationship or lack thereof.  
Prompt: #23 alone  
41/50

Disclaimer: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are the original novels of Lewis Carroll as is the world that the characters inhabit. They are not mine and are only 'borrowed' for the purposes of the story. the given names for the main characters are my own 'take' on them.

 

"Not by Chance Alone" by karrenia

 

"I received your letter not that this evening past, dearest Matilda, and I am indeed well. I thank you for asking."

The Queen of Hearts set down her quill pen back into its ivory-inlaid holder and pursed her lips in order to better contemplate not only the opening lines of the letter she intended to write in response to the one that she had received but also in a belated answer to the previous ones that had gone unanswered.

Despite that fact that they were both royalty although as a Queen in the natural order of things of much higher rank than a mere Duchess who spent much of her time knitting booties and blankets and brewing herbal teas, the Queen spent her time playing croquet and ordering things just so.

Yes, and one time much removed in the past they had been classmates and as time wore on one thing had led to another and a friendship had developed. If that friendship had fallen by the wayside and become something much more akin to a cordial amity, amity would have to suffice.

It would seem that even she was as much a creature of habit as anyone else. She had to admit that her full time occupation of being a queen had left her very little time for true friends, of either gender. In fact, she found that perhaps that she preferred it that way.

Perhaps, even the Duchess might prefer to keep their current relationship with the remove of the post between them. The Duchess wrote to her with the frequency of perhaps once a month, at the most once a week, and she would write back within the week or more.

“Ah, perhaps the fault lies not in ourselves, but in our stars,” she mused under her breath as much as to the air in the palatial estate that she shared with the King of Hearts.

“Have I become as predictable as all that? I would hate to become predictable. After all, variety is the spice of life. Perhaps I need to shake the system up once again. No doubt, the redoubtable Duchess Matilda will have several or morals by the dozen to offer on any subject I would care to address with her.”

She had stepped away to the window and gazed out upon the checker-board country-side.

“Bother. Should I write back as she no doubt expects or do I call her here in person, or gasp, pay her a call? Why am I having such difficulty in deciding?”

Following closely on the heels of that particular though the Queen of Hearts began to pace up and down the parquet floor of the sitting room which betrayed her agitated state of mind.

At last, tiring of this she sat down heavily in a high-backed leather-padded chair that fronted up on a cherry-wood scrolled desk and reached for the quill pen in its holder. With the tip of the pen held about level with the corners of her mouth she began to tap, tap, tap, tap as she stared at the first lines and wondered what else to add to it.

“You have stated that am taking on airs, and perhaps so, but I shall fell remiss in the name of our old friendship if you were not to heed your own advice. Perhaps in cautioning myself to take heed of the lessons that you so desire that I learn, that you fail to heed them yourself.”

“I do not mean to say that I no longer wish to remain in correspondence with you, for correspondence can only work if it goes both ways. I merely wish to emphasis that we are no longer as young as we once were and have become a bit too settled in our ways. As I only just now mused to myself, variety is the spice of life. You are ever so fond of morals, and I believe that this is one that you can take to heart.

“I remain, as ever, yours, in friendship, her right and Royal Majesty, the Queen of Hearts."

**Author's Note:**

> Also written and posted for 50scenes, table 1, #23 alone


End file.
